Justice40 Rail Explorer

User Guide

October 2023
Table of Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1

Uses of the Tool........................................................................................................... 1

Data Sources and Methodology................................................................................... 2

Navigating...................................................................................................................... 4

Buttons and Widgets.................................................................................................... 4

Zooming and Searching............................................................................................... 5

Viewing Data.................................................................................................................. 7

Available Data Layers .................................................................................................. 7

Pop-Up Data Tables..................................................................................................... 9

Attribute Tables.......................................................................................................... 11

Filtering Data ............................................................................................................... 14

Pollution Level Filters................................................................................................. 15

Rail Yard Filters ......................................................................................................... 17

Rail Grade Crossing Filters ........................................................................................ 18

Release Version Date Release Notes

1.0 10/16/2023 N/A
1 

INTRODUCTION 

The Justice40 Rail Explorer tool is an interactive web application that combines data 

from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Equitable Transportation Community 

(ETC) Explorer, the North American Rail Network (NARN), the FRA Grade Crossing 

Inventory, and the 2020 Census. The tool allows users to understand rail infrastructure 

and potential improvement projects in the context of the surrounding communities. 

While the Census tracts in the Justice40 Rail Explorer tool 

are shown as “transportation disadvantaged” for 

simplicity, viewing the underlying data reveals the five 

components of the cumulative transportation burden that 

communities experience: Transportation Insecurity, 

Climate and Disaster Risk Burden, Environmental Burden, 

Health Vulnerability, and Social Vulnerability. 

For a more in-depth understanding of these measures 

and how communities are experiencing burden that 

transportation investments can mitigate or reverse, go to 

the ETC Explorer. 

Uses of the Tool 

The purpose of the Justice40 Rail Explorer is to facilitate 

an understanding of how rail infrastructure intersects with 

communities and to foster communication of the benefits 

to those communities of potential rail investments.

The tool enables users to explore the location of existing and future rail infrastructure 

(grade crossings, rail yards, and rail corridors) in the context of how communities are 

experiencing burden and consider how transportation investments may benefit those 

areas. Users can search for existing rail lines, rail yards, and/or grade crossings and 

overlay information at the Census tract level from the ETC Explorer and the 2020 

Census. 

Pollution measures related to diesel emissions and particulate matter (PM) 2.5 

emissions are also visible in the tool to help users understand how improvements to rail 

could contribute to improving areas with high levels of localized pollution. 

Applicants to FRA’s Justice40-covered grant programs, including Rail Crossing 

Elimination, Federal-State Partnership for Intercity Passenger Rail, and Consolidated 

Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program, are encouraged to use the

Council on Environmental Quality’s (CEQ) Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool

(CEJST) as the primary tool to identify disadvantaged communities (Justice40 

communities). Applicants are strongly encouraged to use the ETC Explorer and 

The Justice40 

initiative, created by 

the Biden-Harris 

Administration 

through Executive 

Order 14008, 

Tackling the Climate 

Crises at Home and 

Abroad, is a key 

component in U.S.

DOT’s efforts to 

confront and address 

decades of 

underinvestment.
2 

Justice40 Rail Explorer to understand how their community or project area is 

experiencing disadvantage related to lack of transportation investments or opportunities. 

Through understanding how a community or project area is experiencing transportationrelated disadvantage, applicants are able to address how the benefits of a project will 

reverse or mitigate the burdens of disadvantage and demonstrate how the project will 

address challenges and accrued benefits. 

Data Sources and Methodology

The data used in the Justice40 Rail Explorer is all publicly available and accessible via 

online portals. The primary sources of data are the U.S. DOT ETC Explorer, the 2020 

Census, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) National Transportation Atlas 

Database (NTDA), and the FRA Grade Crossing Inventory database. More details 

regarding data sources are provided in Table 1. 

Table 1. Data Sources for Justice40 Rail Explorer V1.0 Layers

Data Layer Source Link(s)

Grade Crossings Railroad Grade 

Crossings, BTS 2023

Railroad Grade Crossings 

(bts.gov)

North American Rail 

Network (NARN)

NARN lines and 

nodes, BTS 2023

North American Rail Network 

Lines (bts.gov)

North American Rail Network 

Nodes (bts.gov)

Rail Yards NARN lines, BTS

2023

North American Rail Network 

Lines (bts.gov)

Transportation 

Disadvantaged Census 

Tracts – National Results

ETC Explorer, U.S. 

DOT 2023 ETC Explorer 

(transportation.gov)

Particulate Matter 

Emissions (above 75th

percentile) 

EPA's EJScreen 

2022 EJScreen Data (epa.gov) 

Diesel PM Emissions 

(above 75th percentile)

EPA's EJScreen 

2022 EJScreen Data (epa.gov)

USA 118th Congressional 

Districts (all territories) 

U.S. Census Bureau USA 118th Congressional 

Districts (All Territories) - 

Overview (arcgis.com)

2020 Census Data 

Population by Nation

U.S. Census Bureau USA 2020 Census Population 

Characteristics - Overview 

(arcgis.com)

2020 Census Data by 

State

U.S. Census Bureau USA 2020 Census Population 

Characteristics - Overview 

(arcgis.com)

2020 Census Data by 

County

U.S. Census Bureau USA 2020 Census Population 

Characteristics - Overview 

(arcgis.com)

2020 Census Data by 

Tract

U.S. Census Bureau USA 2020 Census Population 

Characteristics - Overview 

(arcgis.com)
3 

Data Layer Source Link(s)

2020 Census Data by 

Block Group

U.S. Census Bureau USA 2020 Census Population 

Characteristics - Overview 

(arcgis.com)

American Indian and 

Alaska Native (AIAN)

Tribal Statistical Areas

Bureau of Indian 

Affairs (BIA) BOGS | Data (geoplatform.gov)

AIAN National Land Area 

Representation (LAR)

BIA BOGS | Data (geoplatform.gov)

The methodology for calculating “Transportation Disadvantaged Census Tracts – 

National Results” is described in detail in the ETC Explorer Technical Documentation. In 

brief, the measure includes five components of disadvantage, which are based on over

40 indicators: 

1. Transportation Insecurity 

a. Transportation Access 

b. Transportation Cost 

Burden

c. Transportation Safety

2. Environmental Burden 

a. Ozone Level

b. PM 2.5 Level

c. Diesel PM Level

d. Air Toxics Cancer Risk

e. Hazardous Sites Proximity

f. Toxics Release Sites 

Proximity

g. Treatment & Disposal 

Facility Proximity

h. Risk Management Sites 

Proximity

i. Coal Mine Proximity

j. Lead Mines Proximity 

k. Pre-1980’s Housing

l. High Volume Road 

Proximity 

m. Railways Proximity 

n. Airports Proximity

o. Ports Proximity

p. Impaired Surface Water

3. Social Vulnerability 

a. 200% of Poverty Line

b. No High School Diploma

c. Unemployment 

d. House Tenure

e. Housing Cost Burden

f. Uninsured

g. Lack of Internet Access 

h. Endemic Inequality

i. 65 or older 

j. 17 or younger

k. Disability

l. Limited English Proficiency 

m. Mobile Homes

4. Health Vulnerability 

a. Asthma Prevalence

b. Cancer Prevalence

c. High Blood Pressure 

Prevalence 

d. Diabetes Prevalence

e. Low Mental Health 

Prevalence

5. Climate and Disaster Risk 

Burden 

a. Anticipated Changes in 

Extreme Weather (Future 

Extreme Weather Risks)

i. Increase in Hot 

Days

ii. Increase in Rainy 

Days

iii. Change in Dry Days

iv. Coastal Inundation

b. Annualized Disaster 

Losses (Annualized 

Losses Due to Hazards)

c. Impervious Surfaces (from 

Land Cover)
0 

The two indicators in bold under 2. Environmental Burden are shown in separate layers 

in the Justice40 Rail Explorer tool. Other indicators can be researched further in the 

ETC Explorer. 
4 

NAVIGATING 

Buttons and Widgets

When you open the Justice40 Rail Explorer you will see a map of the United States with 

a couple of default layers of data visible and multiple buttons and widgets on the left 

side of the screen, represented by the following icons. 

Button/Widget Icon Functionality

Base map gallery allows the user to change the underlying 

map imagery to a variety of pre-set options.

Add Data allows users to pull in additional, publicly available 

datasets and visualize them within the tool.

Filter tools allow the user to filter the map, and zoom into, 

specific subsets of data. There are three filter options in the 

Justice40 Rail Explorer: (i) pollution levels (PM 2.5 and 

Diesel PM), (ii) rail yards by railroad owner and yard name, 

and (iii) railroad crossings by U.S. DOT identification 

number, state, and county.

Plus and minus buttons allow users to zoom in (+) and out 

(-) of the map.

Home button resets the map extent to the original/default 

level of zoom, which shows the lower 48 states.
5 

My Location button will zoom to your current location on the 

map if your device is location enabled.

Search bar allows users to enter addresses or common 

place names and zoom to a specific location on the map.

Layer List shows the layers of data available to view on the 

map and allows the user to turn layers off and on.

Legend will show what layers are currently visible on the 

map and how the data is represented (the meaning of color 

scales, etc.).

Information provides an introduction to the map and version 

dates along with links to this User Guide and other sources 

of relevant information.

Zooming and Searching

To zoom into/out of the map: 

• Click the plus/minus arrow at the upper left-hand corner of the map screen (1) or 

• Scroll the mouse wheel up to zoom in and down to zoom out

• Hold SHIFT and then click & drag on the map to zoom to the drawn extent

• If you have a touch screen, you can also pinch to zoom in and out with your 

fingers (as you would on a smartphone) 

• If you want to revert back to the “home” screen view of the U.S. lower 48 states, 

just click the house button at the top left-hand corner of the map screen (2)

The map has a Search bar at the top left corner of the screen (3). Click into this area 

and enter either an address or a common place name (example: Wrigley Field) to zoom 

to that location. Current location is also a selection option using the My Location button 

(4). If location services are enabled on your device, this will zoom to your current 
6 

location.

Please note that some layers, including the NARN, Grade Crossings, and some levels 

of Census data, are not visible when the map is zoomed all the way out because there 

is too much data to render nationwide. You must zoom into an area to see those 

features on the map. 
7 

VIEWING DATA 

Available Data Layers

The following layers of data are available to view in the Justice40 Rail Explorer: 

Data layers that are turned on for viewing are checked (1) users can turn layers off by 

deselecting the check box next to the layer name. Users can turn layers on by selecting 

the check box next to the layer name. Layer names that appear gray are not visible at 

the current zoom level on the map. As the user zooms into the map, these layers will 

become visible and the data layer name in the Layer List will turn black. Users can scroll 
8 

down the list of layers using the scrollbar on the right side of the pop-up table or expand 

the list by dragging the bottom right corner of the pop-up down (2). The two rail yard 

layers, NARN Yards and Query Rail Yards by Disadvantaged Area, overlap each other. 

The user must turn off the NARN Yards layer (all yards in red) to see the results of the 

query that show where rail yards overlap with disadvantaged areas (subset of yards in 

blue). 

To view the symbology used for a layer, click the down arrow to the left of the checkbox 

(3). The symbol associated with that layer will appear below the layer name. Click the 

arrow again to hide the symbols. 

Click the three dots on the right side of the layer field to view additional features related 

to that layer (4) – see next page. 
9 

Options include changing the transparency of the layer symbol on the map, disabling 

the pop-up tables of data visible when the symbol is selected, and viewing the related 

data in an attribute table at the bottom of the map. 

To close the Layer List, click the X in the upper right corner (5). To open the Layer List 

again, click the Layer List button. 

Pop-Up Data Tables

When you click on the Justice40 Rail Explorer map, pop-up data tables (6) will appear 

to provide available data for review (see next page). If there is no data turned on where 

a user has clicked, a table will appear to indicate that there is no information available at 

that location. 
10

Many data points can be layered on top of each other on the map, such that one click 

might reveal multiple data tables. The top banner of the table will show “# of #” text (7)

to indicate how many tables are available in that location. 

To view the other data tables available in that location, click the right-facing arrow in the 

upper right corner (8). To maximize the table, click the window icon, and to close the 

table click the X. 

Clicking the Zoom To link at the bottom left corner of a pop-up table (9) will zoom the 

map into the associated location. Clicking the three dots in the bottom right corner of the 

table (10) allows the user to pan to the location (which zooms and centers the map), 

add a marker at that location, or view the data in an attribute table. 
11

If the data available for a selected location is a longer list of attributes, the user can 

scroll down the pop-up table using the scrollbar at the right side of the table. 

Attribute Tables

Attribute tables are available for all data layers and will appear at the bottom of the map 

screen if the “View in Attribute Table” option is selected from a pop-up table or from the 

Layer List (both options shown in the section above).

The other method for viewing data in an attribute table is to click the up arrow visible at 

the center bottom of the map screen - see label (11). Once the attribute table is open, 

tabs will be visible across the top of the table indicating which data layers are currently 

visible and providing the available data for each in the corresponding tab. Click the tabs 

to switch to viewing the data from a different layer (12). 

The attribute tables will show all of the data visible within the extent of the user’s screen

as the attribute tables are filtered by the map extent. To close the attribute table, click 

the down arrow that appears above the table (13). 
12

Within the attribute table, the user can select rows to highlight the location on the map 

by clicking on the left side of the row (14) (next page). With a row of data selected, the 

user can select the buttons on top of the table to zoom to that location (if the relevant 

layer of data is turned on), which will zoom and center the map on the selected location, 

clear the selection, or refresh the table (15). 
13

If many columns of attributes appear in the table, there will be a scrollbar visible at the 

bottom of the table to scroll across and view the columns. To view all of the available 

attributes or columns of data, click the small + sign in the upper right corner of the table 

(16). 
14

FILTERING DATA 

The data available in the Justice40 Rail Explorer tool can be filtered to show only a 

subset of the data available. There are three filter options in the tool: 

1. Filtering based on PM 2.5 or diesel PM emissions levels. 

2. Filtering based on rail yard owner and name. 

3. Filtering based on grade crossing U.S. DOT identification number or state or 

county location. 

To access the filters, click the Filter buttons on the left side of the map (1). They are laid 

out in the order listed above. 

When you click a Filter button, the side panel will expand to show the options for filtering 

data (2). 
15

Once the panel is open, users can click the Filter icons across the top of the panel to 

switch to a different filter (3). To close the panel at any point, just click the double arrow 

at the bottom (4). 

Pollution Level Filters

The two pollution level filters available will filter to the U.S. DOT Disadvantaged Census 

Tracts by the percentile levels of PM 2.5 and/or Diesel PM emissions. The text boxes in 

the filter (5) allow the user to type in the minimum percentile (0 to 100) for each pollution 

measure. To filter the map, set the toggle button in the upper right corner of the panel to 

the “on” position (6) (next page). 

The two filters are linked by an AND statement. Entering two values will result in filtering 

to only those Census tracts that meet both minimum requirements. Users can enter just 

one threshold or thresholds for both measures to use the filter. 
16

When the toggle is turned on it will appear green and the map will recenter and zoom to 

the extent of the Census tracts that meet the “at least” requirement in the filter. Turning 

the toggle back off, will reset the map (7). 

It is important to note that Census tracts that meet the filter requirement may be spread 

across the country and may be hard to see if the map does not zoom in. In this case, 

users can open the Attribute Table to see which U.S. DOT Disadvantaged Census 

Tracts remain visible, or zoom to the area of interest on the map to see if any Census 

tracts remain highlighted. 
17

Rail Yard Filters

The rail yard filters allow a user to select a Railroad Owner and/or a Rail Yard name to 

zoom to the chosen location. The Railroad Owner and Rail Yard names are from the 

NARN data, meaning that they may not match abbreviated or colloquial names. Both 

filters default to empty and can be reset to empty by the user. 

The list of Rail Yard names is linked to the Railroad Owner list. Selecting a Railroad 

Owner first will filter the Rail Yard list to only those yards in the NARN owned by that 

railroad. 

To set the filter, users can either click one of the search textboxes and start typing in a 

name (8) that will filter the available list of data to matching names or click the down 

arrow at the right side of the textbox (9) and scroll through the list of options. 

To view more options that match the search text entered in the textbox, click the 

“Search more” link (10) to view the drop-down list of all matching options. 

To turn the filter on and zoom to the selected location, set the toggle button in the upper 

right corner of the panel to the “on” position (11). The button will turn green when the 

filter is on. 

It is important to note that larger railroad companies will own rail yards in multiple 

locations across the country, so selecting only a Railroad Owner may not zoom into the 

map enough to make individual Rail Yards visible. In this case, use the Attribute Table 

to view the list of visible Rail Yards and select the yard name from that list to narrow the 

search or zoom into the area of interest after setting the filter (see Attribute Table 

section for how to zoom to a selected record). 
18

Rail Grade Crossing Filters

The grade crossing filters allow a user to filter to a specific U.S. DOT grade crossing ID 

location or an entire State and/or county. Each highway-railroad crossing is assigned a 

unique identifier—a U.S. DOT crossing inventory number, sometimes referred to as an 

FRA number. The number consists of six digits followed by a letter and is posted on a 

metal plate at each crossing. The grade crossing location data in the Justice40 Rail 

Explorer is based on FRA’s Grade Crossing Inventory System (GCIS), which collects 

the data reported by State DOTs and railroads regarding grade crossings. If the location 

of a crossing is incorrect in this application, the State DOT is responsible for updating 

the coordinates for public crossings and the Primary Operating Railroad is responsible 

for updating the coordinates for private crossings.. 

If the user knows the U.S. DOT crossing ID(s) of interest, they can either begin typing 

the ID number into the search text box under USDOT Crossing ID (12) or use the down 

arrow to select the number from the list of available IDs (13). 

Once an ID number is selected, the remaining options in the filter tool will be limited to 

the State Abbreviation and County Name associated with that ID in the GCIS. Click the 

toggle button in the upper right corner (14) to zoom to the selected crossing. Click the 

crossing point (15) to view the GCIS data associated with that crossing. 
19

Please note that the State Abbreviation and County Name may not match the 

geospatial coordinates in the GCIS, such that the map may zoom to a location not in the 

noted State or county. In that case, the evaluation of the location of that crossing in 

relation to the other measures in the Justice40 Rail Explorer should be done by 

searching for the nearest address to that crossing in the search bar (16). 

If the user does not know the U.S. DOT Crossing ID(s) of interest, they can select a 

State Abbreviation and/or a County Name to zoom to that area of the map. Selecting a 

State Abbreviation first will filter the County Name list to only those counties within the 

selected state. If a user selects a County Name first and then selects a State 

Abbreviation that does not match the County Name, the filter will not work when the 

toggle is turned on because there is no corresponding location on the map. 

Similarly, if the County Name entered into the GCIS does not match a known county 

name due to naming conventions (i.e., ST. BERNARD vs ST BERNARD) the map may 

zoom to the wrong location. In that case, the search bar can be used to zoom to an area 

and view the grade crossings located there.